Mini
The Mini is a small economy car made by the British Motor Corporation (BMC) and its successors from 1959 until 2000. The original is considered a British icon of the 1960s. Its space-saving transverse engine front-wheel drive layout - allowing 80 percent of the area of the car's floorpan to be used for passengers and luggage - influenced a generation of car makers. In 1999 the Mini was voted the second most influential car of the 20th century, behind the Ford Model T, and ahead of the Citroën DSand & Volkswagen Beetle. The vehicle is in some ways considered the British equivalent of its German contemporary the Volkswagen Beetle, or the Italian Fiat 500. This distinctive two-door car was designed for BMC by Sir Alec Issigonis. It was manufactured at the Longbridge and Cowley plants in England, the Victoria Park/Zetland British Motor Corporation (Australia) factory in Sydney, Australia, and later also in Spain (Authi), Belgium, Chile, Italy (Innocenti), Malta, Portugal, South Africa, Uruguay, Venezuela and Yugoslavia. The Mini Mark I had three major UK updates – the Mark II, the Clubman and the Mark III. Within these was a series of variations, including an estate car, a pick-up truck, a van and the Mini Moke – a jeep-like buggy. The sporty versions, Mini Cooper and Cooper 'S', were successful as rally cars, winning the Monte Carlo Rally three times from 1964 through to 1967. In 1966 the Mini was disqualified after the finish, under a controversial ruling that the cars had an illegal combination of headlamps and spotlights. On introduction in August 1959 the Mini was marketed under the Austin and Morris names, as the Austin Seven and Morris Mini-Minor. The Austin Seven was renamed to Austin Mini in January 1962 and Mini became a marque in its own right in 1969. In 1980 it once again became the Austin Mini and in 1988 the Rover Mini. Mini (marque) (styled as MINI) is a British automotive marque owned by BMW specializing in small cars resembling the original Mini. BMW acquired Rover Group (formerly British Leyland) in 1994, and sold most of it in 2000, but retained the rights to build cars using the MINI name. Designated by Leonard Lord as project ADO15 (A'malgamated '''D'rawing 'O'ffice project number '''15) and the product of the Morris design team, the Mini came about because of a fuel shortage caused by the 1956 Suez Crisis. Petrol was once again rationed in the UK, sales of large cars slumped, and the market for German bubble cars boomed. Lord, the somewhat autocratic head of BMC, reportedly detested these cars so much that he vowed to rid the streets of them and design a 'proper miniature car'. He laid down some basic design requirements: the car should be contained within a box that measured 10×4×4 feet (3.0×1.2×1.2 m); and the passenger accommodation should occupy 6 feet (1.8 m) of the 10-foot (3.0 m) length; and the engine, for reasons of cost, should be an existing unit. Issigonis, who had been working for Alvis, had been recruited back to BMC in 1955 and, with his skills in designing small cars, was a natural for the task. The team that designed the Mini was remarkably small: as well as Issigonis, there was Jack Daniels (who had worked with him on the Morris Minor), Chris Kingham (who had been with him at Alvis), two engineering students and four draughtsmen. Together, by October 1957, they had designed and built the original prototype, which was affectionately named "The Orange Box" because of its colour. The ADO15 used a conventional BMC A-Series four-cylinder, water-cooled engine, but departed from tradition by mounting it transversely, with the engine-oil-lubricated, four-speed transmission in the sump, and by employing front-wheel drive. Almost all small front-wheel-drive cars developed since have used a similar configuration, except with the transmission usually separately enclosed rather than using the engine oil. The radiator was mounted at the left side of the car so that the engine-mounted fan could be retained, but with reversed pitch so that it blew air into the natural low pressure area under the front wing. This location saved vehicle length, but had the disadvantage of feeding the radiator with air that had been heated by passing over the engine. It also exposed the entire ignition system to the direct ingress of rainwater through the grille. The suspension system, designed by Issigonis's friend Dr. Alex Moulton at Moulton Developments Limited, used compact rubber cones instead of conventional springs. This space-saving design also featured rising progressive-rate springing of the cones, and provided some natural damping, in addition to the normal dampers. Built into the subframes, the rubber cone system gave a raw and bumpy ride accentuated by the woven-webbing seats, but the rigidity of the rubber cones, together with the wheels' positioning at the corners of the car, gave the Mini go kart-like handling. Initially an interconnected fluid system was planned, similar to the one that Alec Issigonis and Alex Moulton were working on in the mid-1950s at Alvis. They had assessed the mechanically interconnected Citroën 2CV suspension at that time (according to an interview by Moulton with Car Magazine in the late 1990s), which inspired the design of the Hydrolastic suspension system for the Mini and Morris/Austin 1100, to try to keep the benefits of the 2CV system (ride comfort, body levelling, keeping the roadwheel under good control and the tyre in contact with the road), but with added roll stiffness that the 2CV lacked. The short development time of the car meant this was not ready in time for the Mini's launch. The system intended for the Mini was further developed and the hydrolastic system was first used on the Morris 1100, launched in 1962; the Mini gained the system later in 1964. Ten-inch (254 mm) wheels were specified, so new tyres had to be developed, the initial contract going to Dunlop. Issigonis went to Dunlop stating that he wanted even smaller, 8 in (203 mm) wheels (even though he had already settled on ten-inch). An agreement was made on the ten-inch size, after Dunlop rejected the eight-inch (203 mm) proposition. Sliding windows allowed storage pockets in the hollow doors; reportedly Issigonis sized them to fit a bottle of Gordon's Gin. The boot lid was hinged at the bottom so that the car could be driven with it open to increase luggage space. On early cars the number plate was hinged at the top so that it could swing down to remain visible when the boot lid was open. This feature was later discontinued after it was discovered that exhaust gases could leak into the cockpit when the boot was open. The Mini was designed as a monocoque shell with welded seams visible on the outside of the car running down the A and C pillars, and between the body and the floor pan. Those that ran from the base of the A-pillar to the wheel well were described as 'everted' (lit., 'turned outward') to provide more room for the front seat occupants. To further simplify construction, the hinges for the doors and boot lid were mounted externally. Production models differed from the prototypes by the addition of front and rear subframes to the unibody to take the suspension loads, and by having the engine mounted the other way round, with the carburettor at the back rather than at the front. This layout required an extra gear between engine and transmission to reverse the direction of rotation at the input to the transmission. Having the carburettor behind the engine reduced carburettor icing, but the distributor was then exposed to water coming in through the grille. The engine size was reduced from 948 to 848 cc (57.9 to 51.7 cu in); this, in conjunction with a small increase in the car's width, cut the top speed from 90 to 72 mph (145 to 116 km/h). In 1959, BMC and Alec Issigonis won the Dewar Trophy, for the design and production of the Mini. The Mini shape had become so well known that by the 1990s, Rover Group – the heirs to BMC – were able to register its design as a trademark in its own right. Mini K In Australia, 1965 saw the release of the redesigned Australian Morris Mini Deluxe. The new model featured redesigned doors with conventional interior handles and wind up windows (with quarter vents), hydrolastic suspension, key operated starter, a remote gearshift mechanism (like the Cooper) and the engine was upgraded to the 998 cc version. Production of the Australian Morris Mini Deluxe continued until 1969 when it was replaced with another Australian only model, the Mini K the "K" stands for Kangaroo. The K received the more powerful 1098 cc engine (from the Morris 1100) as well as 4-speed synchromesh transmission and upgraded instruments. It was claimed that the Mini K was produced with 80% local content. Both of the Australia only round-nosed minis were based on the UK Mark I Mini with the production changes from the Mark II Mini never being used in Australia. Production of the round-nosed mini in Australia halted in 1970 with the release of the new Mini Clubman. The Australian Mini Clubman utilised the same locally designed wind up windows and exterior door hinges as the Morris Mini Deluxe. The Australian Mini had wind up windows many years before their British counterparts. Mini Cooper/Cooper S Issigonis's friend John Cooper, owner of the Cooper Car Company and Formula One Manufacturers Champion in 1959 and 1960, saw the potential of the little car, and after some experimentation and testing, the two men collaborated to create a nimble, economical, and inexpensive car. The Austin Mini Cooper and Morris Mini Cooper debuted in September 1961. The original 848cc engine from the Morris Mini-Minor was increased to 997cc, boosting power from 34bhp (25kW) to 55bhp (41kW). The car featured a tuned engine, double SU carburetors, and 7" disc brakes, a first at the time in a small car. 1,000 of this iteration were commissioned by management, intended for, and designed to meet the homologation rules of Group 2 rally racing. The 997cc engine was replaced by a shorter stroke 998cc unit in 1964. By the time production of the Cooper model ended in 1967, 12,274 of these popular cars had been sold to the public. A more powerful Mini Cooper, called the 'S' was developed and released in 1963. Featuring a 1071cc engine and larger disc brakes, 4,030 Cooper Ss were produced and sold until the 1071cc model ceased production in August 1964. Cooper also produced two models specifically for circuit racing, rated at 970cc and a 1275cc, both of which were also offered to the public. The smaller engine model was not well received and only 961 were built with 970cc engines until the model was discontinued in April 1965. The 1275cc engined models continued through the Mark 2 Mini, finally being killed off in 1971 in the Mark 3 bodyshell. Mark 1 The Mark I Mini (1959–1967) was the first version of British Motor Corporation's Mini. It is characterised by its sliding windows, external door hinges and "moustache" grille. In the United Kingdom the Mark I was produced between 1959 and 1967, with production in Australia continuing until 1970. Designed as project ADO15 (Austin Drawing Office 15), the first models were marketed with the names Austin Seven (often written as SE7EN) and Morris Mini-Minor in England. Until 1962, they appeared as the Austin 850 and Morris 850 in some export markets. The production model differed from the original prototype (affectionately named "The Orange Box" because of its colour) due to the addition of a modified front subframe, on which the engine was mounted, and by the engine being mounted with the carburettor at the back, rather than at the front, as in the prototype, to reduce wear on the gearbox. The proposed engine size was originally 948 cc as used in the Morris Minor and Austin A35. However, Leonard Lord, chairman of BMC thought that the 90 mph (140 km/h) top speed was excessive and thus reduced the engine size to 848 cc to gain a more manageable speed (for the time) of 72 mph (116 km/h). Issigonis' suspension featured the use of rubber cones as springs: the spring rate of rubber changes with compression, allowing the suspension to adapt to passenger load variations (a full passenger load could actually double the tiny vehicle's gross weight). A conventional suspension would have required an increase in height to the design. This unique design was adapted from Sir Alec Issigonis's home-built racer and built for the Mini by Alex Moulton. The Mini was a genuine four seater. This was possible within such a small bodyshell because the engine was mounted transversely, driving the front wheels via a gearbox which was uniquely incorporated into the sump of the engine. Engine and gearbox thus shared the same oil, which was a significant piece of design in response to the 1956 Suez crisis and the fears of future oil shortages. The overall width of the vehicle was reduced, because there was no need to accommodate a separate gearbox across the width of the car and because there was no transmission tunnel in the floorplan of the Mini, there was more space that could be used to accommodate the passengers thus compensating for the reduced width. Overall length was minimized because of the Mini's two-box design, comprising only a passenger compartment and the engine compartment. There was no third box providing a separate luggage compartment (i.e. a boot) and that inevitably compromised luggage space. To offset that problem, large bins beside each of the four seats provided some useful interior storage and a centrally located instrument binnacle allowed the dashboard to be opened up for storage too. The requirement for storage bins in the front doors effectively determined that the Mini should have sliding windows rather than wind-up windows. The tiny 10inch (250mm) wheels helped to reduce the intrusion of wheel arches into the interior of the vehicle and allowed a modest amount of additional luggage space in a 'boot' area behind the rear seats. Overall the Mini represents some very clever packaging which has often been imitated but has never been bettered. The suspension in all UK models was replaced by a Hydrolastic system in 1964. The new suspension created a softer ride, but it also increased weight and production cost; in 1969 the original rubber suspension reappeared except on 1275 GT, Clubman and Cooper S models. Many other production changes occurred over the life of the Mark I Mini. Mark 2 The Mark II Mini was launched at the 1967 British Motor Show, and featured a redesigned grille, a larger rear window and numerous cosmetic changes. A total of 429,000 Mark 2 Minis were produced. A variety of Mini types were made in Pamplona, Spain, by the Authi company from 1968 onwards, mostly under the Morris name. In 1969, a fibreglass version of the Mini Mark was developed for British Leyland's Chilean subsidiary (British Leyland Automotores de Chile, S.A., originally the independent assembler EMSSA). The bodyshell mould was created by the Peel Engineering Company. Production begain in 1970 and continued for a few years; these fibreglass Minis can be recognized by the missing body seams and by larger panel gaps. The Chilean market was never very large and the 1973 coup led to hyperinflation and a collapsing market. The Aricaplant was closed in 1974.37 The reason for the fibreglass body was to enable Leyland to meet very strict requirements for local sourcing, increasing to a heady 70.22% in 1971 Category:Rover Category:Austin Category:Superminis Category:Mini Category:Morris